During the power summit organized by the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) Cebu on Friday, DOE Regional Director Antonio Labios said the Visayas grid needs a total additional capacity of 2,000 megawatts (MW) starting 2015 and in the next 15 years.

For 2015 alone, Labios said Visayas needs an additional 100 MW based on DOE's power supply and demand outlook.

Labios said there is a strong demand for power in the Visayas considering the increasing number of malls, business establishments and residential areas.

"Now until 2014, we still have ample supply of power but 2015 and onwards is really critical," he said.

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In the Visayas, Labios said Friday, the projected growth in the demand for power is 4.55 percent each year, that's why new power generation sources are needed to prevent rotating brownouts.

From January to May this year alone, the maximum power demand in the Visayas grid, Labios said, was 1,437 MW.

This reflected an increase of nearly four percent compared to the maximum power demand recorded in the same period last year, which was 1,386 MW.

Speaking during the summit Friday, Labios said the existing power plants are already expanding their operations but can only cover the additional power needed starting from last year until 2014, or about 232 MW.

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Labios said they are running energy investment forums to encourage stakeholders, particularly in the private sector, to pour in more investments to the energy sector and establish more power plants.

Labios said there is already a private entity based in Korea that has expressed interest to invest in a solar power plant that has a capacity of 70 MW.

But Labios said everything is still at the proposal stage.

There are other entities, whom he did not name, who have expressed intent to build power plants.
"However, these are not committed yet, meaning there are no financial closures.
They are indicative projects that we really hope nga madayon (these will push through)," he said.

"We are hoping that these projects will proceed to satisfy the additional power requirements," he added.

CEBU, Philippines - A group of fishermen yesterday delivered rotten fish to Department of Energy Regional Director Antonio Labios to protest the oil explorations in the waters of Cebu and Bohol, which they said is the cause of the deteriorating catch in recent days.